[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Society Marketing Consultant

[Will Connelly]

Dan Augustine wrote:

> Folks--
>     What do you think about a jazz-society hiring a 
> marketing-consultant to help promote its concerts?  Is this a good 
> idea?  How much should it cost?
>     Would the American Federation of Jazz Societies have information 
> or opinions about this?  If not, who would?
>     Surely each jazz-society is not an island entire unto itself, 
> reinventing the wheel each time in every town?  But what do you do if 
> nobody in the management of the society has experience or expertise in 
> this?
>
>     Dan

As I understand it, the AFJS today does nothing but rent mailing lists. 
I do not know what the revenues are used for. When I was an officer and 
director, along with guys like Norm Vickers and Dave Robinson and Warren 
Vache Sr, we had a vision of AFJS being a helluva lot more than that . . 
. and, in fact, we wrote and published guides on how to start a jazz 
society, how to put on concerts and more. When I put on the national 
convention in Fort Lauderdale, I had a speaker from the IRS who revealed 
the secrets of being a 501(c)(3)others and the head of the EN music 
program to talk about grants. 

I would have expected AFJS to lobby congress and the royalty tribunal to 
curb the present excesses of ASAP and BIM


, for example.

Kindly,
Will Connelly